Roma Early Childhood Education

Why focus on Roma early education UNICEF - Roma Early Education

Roma Early Education in Serbia UNICEF - Roma Early Education

Progress to date The 2010 Law on Pre-school Education: o prioritizes the enrolment of marginalized children o ensures equal opportunity, without discrimination or separation o allows for minority mother-tongue classes o gives the right to supplementary aid and support UNICEF - Roma Early Education

System Bottlenecks Limited implementation of inclusion provisions of the Pre-school Law Insufficient availability and unequal distribution of pre- school programmes and spaces Lack of accredited diversified programmes – with differing content and length Lack of secure financing for non-compulsory pre-school programmes Discriminatory attitudes and behaviours of some pre- school representatives UNICEF - Roma Early Education

Barriers to Participation Direct and indirect costs Lack of awareness of rights and entitlements Lack of personal documentation Roma parents’ lack of self-confidence and trust in pre-schools UNICEF - Roma Early Education

The way forward Establish new pre-school spaces and programmes that “fit” the needs of Roma children Determine the costs of expansion of pre-school programmes and sources of financing Define indicators and collect disaggregated data for monitoring the implementation of inclusion policies Develop pre-school staff so they adopt inclusive attitudes and behaviours and sanction discriminatory behaviour Empower Roma parents to demand their right to quality pre-school programmes UNICEF - Roma Early Education

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